Dreamer
by CalamityMei
Summary: It was all a hobby until that hobby became a reality. Thrown into a virtual world of the video game she was playing, El has to find a way out before her body becomes permanently stuck in the world that was as distant as her dreams. Slightly AU, OC. Twist on FFVII story.


**Hi everyone, Mei here! :D And here is something some of you probably weren't expecting! I haven't written a fanfiction for yearsssss, and yet I have had this idea for an absolute age and you know what? Thought I'd just get on with it and see what the general consensus is! This is a slight AU of the FFVII world, I don't want to spoil too much but certain characters that should be dead may potentially make an appearance. I wanted to warp the FFVII story ever so slightly so that it conforms to the AU-esqueness I have in mind! Reviews and the like are so immensely appreciated, the more support I get, the more likely I'll punch out those chapters faster! I hope you enjoy what I have so far, and until the next chapter, I look forward to seeing what you all think! :D**

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When you're thrown into a world that even your wildest dreams couldn't even imagine being true, you wonder if this is truly reality. I don't recall closing my eyes, I vaguely remember the familiar sensation of my fingers gripping plastic, my thumbs jerking the foam nubs of the consoles controller. I can remember the smell of strong bleach, intermingled with vanilla, and yet I remember the last words someone had seemed to have whispered in the distance.

"It worked."

A female voice, doctoral in nature, but feminine. I don't know who she was, more like I don't recall. Even with a million thoughts running through my mind, why can't I remember how I got here. What even is here. I realize I am staring into darkness, an ambient darkness, lit by dots of blurring lights. My eyes were closed, did I dare open them? What was I expecting? Something about here felt wrong; foreign. I felt the sudden urge to shout for someone, but to stay quiet all the same. My name? Can I remember my name?

My thoughts plagued me for quite some time, my eyes rolling left to right, figuring out what went where, and how this affected that. Thoughts were funny things, they could make someone panic, yet make someone calm. I was somewhere in the middle. Then suddenly as if this had only been played over in a mere second, I remembered.

El. My name...is El.

I opened my eyes then. Eyelashes feathered over my eyebrows, crystalline ocean depths stared into an abyss of machinery. I wasn't sure if it was dark because of a plate looming where the sky should be, or if it was really evening. Lanterns lit the way along a grime ridden street, people coughed and vomited down alleyways, drunken women found themselves in the arms of equally drunken men and as my eyes finally adjusted, my mind became accustomed to the situation, my eyes widened and I suddenly felt the bile rise in my stomach.

 _I won't vomit. Not here._

I knew I had to get off from the freezing concrete floor. Gripping a nearby metal pole and pulled myself to my feet, the sensation of my toes wriggling in my sneakers coming back to me. I gazed at the sign post I had used to leverage my way to my feet. A gasp escaped me then.

 **Sector 7 - Eastern District**

An arrow pointed to the east, and I stood there staring at the writing for a solid three minutes before it struck me.

This place, it's virtual, it's my imagination, I'm dreaming. There's no way...no way I could be in a video game. Not only that but a video game I knew only all too well, _Final Fantasy VII._ But this world, words didn't strike me, instead that bile once again rose, to the point I was convinced I was about to spill my stomach contents onto the ground. However I stopped myself, allowing my thoughts to gather themselves, to think rationally about how on earth this had happened. Whether this was even real.

It was like a book, I knew absolutely everything there was to know about this place, from Seventh Heaven to the city of Junon, to ShinRa Industries and to Avalanche. Yet truly, I didn't know anything at all, it was one thing to play something virtual, and another to actually be a part of that fantasy.

 _Okay El, c'mon think, think here. Where were you before, there has to be an explanation._

Of course I didn't know, I couldn't remember and that was the fault. Do I perhaps 'play' through like a character, would such things bring about the recovery of my memory loss? I didn't know, in fact I didn't know much right now, all I knew was that I was freezing, dirty and felt an awful knotting in my stomach. I headed to the one place I knew only too well from the game that was now my reality.

Seventh Heaven.

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 **So! Short chapters are to be expected (it's just how I roll) but please follow the story and review if you can! :D All is very much appreciated. Hopefully I can start getting back into fanfiction writing and really get this story flowing, so many plans and ideas! Just a heads up, the current rating (T) is subject to change as I may touch on more mature things later on in the story. And the question I must ask all of you is: What do you guys think of El? I know I haven't gone into extreme detail with her yet, but I like strong female leads, so expect someone with a bit of spunk! Hope you lovely lot enjoyed the first chapter of many to come!**

 **Mei xo**


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